There are numerous foldable scooters, for example, the U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,270,095B1 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,234,501B1. The main disadvantage of the scooters in these two cited arts is that the folding mechanism is located on the footboard and is exposed to the outside, which can be easily activated by the user when riding the scooter by accident. The location of the mounting seats on the footboard also causes inconvenience to the user when riding the scooter. The mounting seats being exposed will easily injure the user when accident occurs. A better scooter is to be provided to eliminate any parts that stick out from the surface of the scooter.
The mounting seats in U.S. Pat. No. 7,156,405B1 are covered by a connector plate, but the slots on the plate are dangerous features as the user may inadvertently place the finger in the slot when folding the scooter, and be injured by the flanges moving in the slots.
There is another foldable scooter existing in the market as shown in FIGS. 1a and 1b. The disadvantage of this foldable scooter is that such folding assembly contains many open slots 910, 920, 930 for the corresponding parts to slide therein or to provide space for the folding, which cause potential hazards to the user when folding the scooter. The user may accidentally place the finger in one of the slots 910, 920, 930 and be injured when the scooter is being folded.
The lever 940 being located on the upper surface of the footboard also causes inconvenience to the user riding the scooter. When riding the scooter, the user may accidentally kick the lever and cause the scooter to collapse to the folded condition. The footboard should be kept free from any mechanical parts.
Pulling the handle requires force from the user to release the folding mechanism. An improved scooter is to be provided to adopt a more easy and convenient mechanism to release the folding mechanism.